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Hi everyone! This is my first post here. I came across The Eyre Affair a couple weeks ago, and immediately after I finished I ordered Lost In a Good Book, which I devoured. As I wait for my Well of Lost Plots to make its way overseas I discovered this forum. None of my friends are reading these books (yet!) so I hope someone can answer this.

The most troubling question to me... why doesn't Thursday's dad allow Anton to come back? Or does anyone think he tried already and it doesn't work, and we'll find out in the next book? (ie maybe he went to the Crimea and waited there for Anton to divert him from making a mistake, but was unable to do so). Does anyone else find this to be a big problem? It seems like that would be the first thing a parent would do upon becoming a rogue time traveler. I was very surprised that even though Landen was eradicated, Anton still died and was blamed for the disaster. Any thoughts (that don't spoil me for the next book)?

Welcome to the fforum. That's an interesting ffirst post...
Bear in mind that the Colonel is more of a rebel against the corrupt (& French revisionist) elements within the Chronoguard than an actual
"rogue", and may therefore be much more reluctant to tamper with the course of history than some people might expect.
As Landen's presence in the Crimea (apparently) didn't actually cause Anton's death I don't see any particular reason why his eradication from the scene might have prevented this... and presumably somebody else (such as Colonel P?) was willing to blame Anton for causing the disaster.

Plus, Cmdr. Next points out to Thursday that time is very resilient. "Time is the glue of the cosmos, Thursday, and it has to be eased apart. Try to force events and they end up whacking you on the frontal lobe like a cabbage from six paces."

First time poster here too - love all the books even tho I did end up reading them in reverse the first time round lol (thanks amazon!!) and got very confused about the whole story - glad to say I have now read the whole series in correct order and I am totally hooked and can't wait for part 4!!

I had wondered why Thursday's Dad hadn't stopped Anton getting blown up and I wondered in a trekky sort of way if it had something to do with the time/space continum and that if Mr Next had saved Anton's life that something equally disasterous might have happened...if that makes sense lol

Keeping Anton from dying would be tampering with history, exactly the sort of thing Mr. Next seems to be fighting against ... my take on the whole thing is that the French revisionists (and possibly Goliath?) have been going around getting rid of people like Churchill and others to manipulate what "really" happened. If this is the case, then Thursday's Dad would do his best to fix what others have done, but not do any tinkering of his own.

Also, somewhere someone (Mr. Next?) said that it was very hard to eradicate someone and not change everything else, so maybe saving Anton would result in a whole slew of changes to the timeline and his Dad isn't (wasn't? won't be?) willing to sacrifice history just to save his son.

I reckon it was Goliath that killed Churchill, giving the Nazis a chance to invade, and Goliath the chance to gain hold. Maybe the Nextian world was exactly the same as ours, until long in the future when they discover timetravel, went back and gave them the technology to clone and do all that stuff, if they did change it, they could easily change it to a "Thursday-world" maybe soon, our memories will change and we will be in a "Thursday-world"....
Scary.... But also good in a way!

Or rather, our equivalent of Goliath...
Which company is that supposed to be? Ignoring the nationality change, I would say probably Microsoft, but there seem to be numerous flaws in that. Has anyone a better suggestion?
Or is it the Government?

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Well, because it is submersed in a marine environment, I've always called it the Going-Under-The-Water-Safely-Device.

This is my first post. Thanks for having such a cool forum. I've just finished "Well of Lost Plots" with its boffo extra chapter for us Yanks. (I know thats another forum). I just wanted to reply to the "Who is Goliath meant to represent?" question. Since the previous post so kindly punted the blame across the pond, I'd like to add our ubiquitous Wal-Mart to the short list. With the mercenary tactics, the poor treatment of workers, and general...ickiness, Wal-Mart gets my vote. Perhaps a more disturbing question though is why we have Wal-Mart (and by extension, Goliath) in the first place. Society as a whole has dictated the need for faster, not better, @#$%&, not better, more convenient, not better. Perhaps if we all popped down to the corner grocery more frequently Goliath-Mart wouldn't be such a concern. Er...must vacate soapbox. Microwave dinner is ready.

Thanks again for the great forum and the chance to talk about these great books. As far as the question on the return of Anton via time travel goes, his death is the primary source of Thursday's internal conflict. If he is fine, she is fine. Not quite as interesting.

I think I remember Jasper saying during one of his talks that Goliath represented the generic multinational conglomerate types of corporations that tend to take over everything in life, ie Microsoft, Murdoch, Wal-Mart (I'll agree with that statement for sure!) and the like. I think he said that he had originally thought about calling it Acme, like in the Looney Toons cartoons, but it didn't seem sinister enough.

Note bene: Landen never, ever blames Anton for the disaster. He merely reports him pointing in the wrong direction. The difference is subtle, but important. TN coming to terms with this difference is quite important to the plot of TEA.

PSD

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